Breckinridge County KyArchives News.....Jolly Station / McQuady (parts 1 & 2; 1/19/22 and 2/2/22) 2022 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ky/kyfiles.html ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Dana Brown http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00005.html#0001067 April 10, 2022, 4:28 pm The Herald News Newpaper 2022 JOLLY STATION/McQUADY BY LESLIE GALLOWAY HAYCRAFT THE HERALD NEWS NEWSPAPER 1/19/2022 AND 2/2/2022 EDITIONS Before being names McQuady after the name of the first Post Mistress, this community was called Jolly Station. It is five miles south of Hardinsburg on current day Hwy. 261. The junction was then on Old Hartford Road and named after land owner Samuel Jolly who ran a stagecoach station there. Samuel was the son of Nelson Jolly, Jr., one of the original pioneers at Hardin’s Fort, and owned a large amount of farmland in the area. Samuel lived from 1852-1922. Many people continued to call it Jolly Station for years beyond its name change. During research, The Breckinridge News from the early 1900’s sometimes uses McQuady and sometimes Jolly Station in the paper. Surnames of some of the families living in the community were DeJarnette, Pate, Bruce, Frank, Holly, Davis, Keenan, Mattingly, Haycraft, and O’Brien to name a few. The Irvington Fordsville Spur of the railroad came through Jolly Station and was built in 1888 and completed in 1890. At this time the community was made up of farmland, homesteads, and the stagecoach stop for the most part. There was no concentration of businesses to call it a “town”. Farmers greatly benefitted since shipping their goods was easier to ship and saved travel time. Incomes in the area improved after the railroad came through this area. In 1891, the James McQuady family applied for a post office and was granted; a building was built for a post office on their farm. The first Post Mistress was Annie McQuady, and the name changed officially from Jolly Station to McQuady. Eventually the post office which was down the road was moved to a general store and combined, which was very common years ago. One of the first stores of the community was said to have been owned by Samuel Laslie and started in a railroad car, eventually being successful enough to build his own building. He later had a partner, Will Davis, in the store. During Laslie’s life he was an operator for the railroad, a policeman in Louisville, and considered a successful businessman. Around 1897, a flour mill and two-story family home was built by John Bates. Only a few years later, he sold the mill to Barney DeJarnette and by 1912 it was owned by Will Davis. Davis, who had bought the first general store from Laslie, was quite the businessman since he ended up owning both a mill and a general store. Eventually he let his nephew, Ray Dyer, take over management of the general store and sold it to Dyer and his wife, Lula. Mrs. Lula Dyer was Post Mistress in the general store for over 30 years. Dyer carried an extensive variety of items in the general store: farm equipment, propane gas, General Electric, sugar, and basic necessities. Dyer General Store was a cream station for all the farmers as well. The store was a General Electric dealership and when the store closed in 1977, he was able to sell the dealership rights. As was the situation for dealership rights for farm equipment, Johnny Armes purchased New Holland (Ford) dealership rights which he used to open a business in McQuady also. Dyer owned a bulk propane gas plant which he sold to Bob Lyons, which became Lyons Gas. He was a successful businessman who was elected state representative for two terms in the 1960’s. Dyer General Store is no longer standing but was located on the property where the McQuady Fire Station now stands. Across the road, the building that Dyer used to store supplies and equipment for their large business still stands. Other general stores that were in McQuady over the years were owned by Frank and Forest Lyons, Barney DeJarnette, and Jess McGary. Most of them were not as large as the Dyer General Store but sold different items of sorts to be able to comete. There was also a blacksmith and wagon-making shop in very early years and even a broom making factory. The factory used the railroad to ship their products across the country. Two doctors that worked in McQuady were F. A. Sandback and Dr. Allen L. Kincheloe, both in the early 1900’s. Dr. Sandbach had an office and a drugstore as well. Dr. Kincheloe (born to the family Kincheloe doctors that served our county for generations) worked in McQuady until 1915 and then moved to Daviess County. McQuady General Store, as it is called today, is now a modern metal building. In the late 1990’s when it was owned by Perry Lee, it was an older store building that had a history. That building had many different owners over the years including Corbett Keenan (J. C. Keenan) in the 1950’s. The structures may have changed over the years but that corner has been a hot spot for business – no one will argue about that! More to come next week about schools and churches… Sources: Breckinridge County Archives, Guida Goodman Snavely, Nelson Jolly and His Family of Breckinridge County, Ky., Francis W. Keenan, The Breckinridge News 1900 & 1918. ------------------------------------------------------- Part 2 Old Jolly Station had two or possibly three schools: Bland School, Jolly School, and Jackson School. Later when called McQuady there were even more schools with St. Mary of the Woods. Bland was a one room school located on Hwy 15 on the property now belonging to Dale Taul and when they expanded and built a two room school, the one room structure became a black school. There was also a black church near and cemetery across the road from the school. Bland School was used until 1950 when McQuady Elementary School was built. Jolly School was located on the site of the old St. Mary of the Wood’s Church property. They, like many one room schools, needed more room and tore down the old school in order to build a new two room school. This was in the early 1900’s when McQuady only first became called McQuady instead of Jolly Station. Jackson School was located on the road today named “Old Schoolhouse Road”. It was in use in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. His parents had gone to that school and talked about it. My father-in-law, who grew up in McQuady, had memories of it still standing in the 1980’s as an empty building. It was sometimes used to strip tobacco by people in the area at that time. Many old school photos that are found when researching this type of history are o class groups in front of the schools. Very seldom does the photo show the whole building or even enough to distinguish much about the land or area where it might have been. While researching for this project I have found several that were called “McQuady School” and the group of kids were in front of a wooden school building but it leaves me wondering if this was yet a different school later in time from Bland, Jolly, and Jackson or was one of these schools for instance called McQuady School also? St. Mary of the Woods Catholic Church was formed in 1870 under Reverend Nicholas Ryan. Church records show that the James Mattingly family first held church services in their home until they could no longer accommodate the crowd. A simple church structure was built for services the same year that James died. The original church deed showed three acres for the building and cemetery. In 1876, James Mattingly’s son donated one acre for a Catholic school to be built about a mile north from the church. There are no records other than stories of relatives attending school there and a property deed. There was an estimated 25-30 students attending the first St. Mary of the Woods one room school. Parents paid some sort of fee for the children to attend and this was used to pay the teacher. Mr. J. J. Friel was one of the later teachers remembered at that school. As soon as the 1890’s the church had grown and an addition of a new sanctuary was added. Reverend John Francis Knue came to Axtel and St. Mary as a mission and was assigned to build a new church for the Catholic community. In 1909-1910, a rectory was built and the first resident pastor brought the community together to organize the enormous task for this constructions. St. Mary was built from hand hewn sandstone out of local quarries from the labor of members of the church and even the pastor himself. They proudly claimed the only paid labor was a stone mason and two carpenters. St. Mary is still a beautiful sight to see today with its stained glass windows and stone architecture on the hill in McQuady. Father Knue worked tirelessly to help the community in every way that he could and was described in writings with great esteem, and as “a gentle giant”. He was known for helping teach people farming methods and ways for rural people to earn a living. In 1920, St. Mary of the Woods began building their school behind the new church. Unlike most schools of the time, it was over a basement. At first it was not stone, that would come later. The school would however, like most of the time teach up to the eighth grade. This school would actually be the second St. Mary school but many refer to it as the first. This school would go on to be used until the last class graduated in 1962 when another newer building was constructed. The building would be the last school on the property and is no longer open. The building is in use as a sort of museum for St. Mary. The brick building that was McQuady Elementary School still stands but the school closed for the McQuady Mustangs in 1997. The following year in 1998, Pleasant View Baptist Church purchased it and still occupies it today. They have a church and Christian school. Corinth Baptist was formed back in 1892 and a simple one room church was built for services. The first pastor was H. b. White who was said to have earned $60 year salary which was thought to be very good wages. By 1952, they added the popular Sunday school annexes as they were called. Their parsonage had been built in 1949 and still being used today and very well cared for over the years. The decision was made to tear down the old auditorium when they built a new brick church in 1976. In the 2000’s, a gymnasium was built as the church grew in size. McQuady has always been a farming community and the railroad greatly aided everyone in shipping their tobacco, crops and products. When the railroad closed in 1943, thankfully roads had improved to make transportation easier and there were still nearby train depots for shipping. Although farming has changed, tobacco is still grown in McQuady over 100 years after the area was recognized as fertile by pioneers! The McQuady area has seen large cattle and pork producers, tobacco, and other traditional crops over the decades. Today it is a couple of churches, a busy convenient store and a welding shop. The corner which holds that convenient store is the same one that has been occupied since Jolly Station and had so many general stores. Oh what history is on that spot! Additional Comments: Copied from original article, with permission from Leslie Galloway Haycraft (reporter) and the Herald News newspaper. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ky/breckinridge/newspapers/jollysta573gnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/kyfiles/